


Astraphobia: The fear of being struck by lightning

by Garecc



Series: Of Immortals [formerly Artemis & Apollo stories] [7]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Apollo is scared and his kids notice, Apollo needs hugs, Fear of Flying, Fluff and Angst, For once. NO ARTEMIS., Gen, Hermes is kinda there, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Thunderstorms, Zeus's A+ Parenting, planes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 03:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13426125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Garecc/pseuds/Garecc
Summary: Apollo is on a plane with his kids. He's scared Zeus will strike them down. Turbulence is terrifying and what makes matters worse is that there is a nearby thunderstorm.





	Astraphobia: The fear of being struck by lightning

**Author's Note:**

> HAHAHA.  
> Prompt:  
> For some reason cabin 7 and Apollo have to travel somewhere (meeting parents? Traveling just cause? Camps blown up?) and they decided to take a plane. They don’t realize exactly how afraid of planes Apollo is (“in my sun chariot I’m in control and if zeus shot me out of the sky the world would burn!”) and have to comfort a deeply distressed Apollo.

Planes. Planes are some of the most impressive, yet terrifying things you mortals have come up with over these past few eons. But, now that I'm a mortal, the fastest way to get around is by riding in them.  
  
I didn't want to ride the plane. "But why?" you may ask. "You are Apollo, god of the sun! you cruise across the sky daily in your chariot!" Well, dear reader, while this may come as a shock, when I am in my chariot, I am in control. I can steer, I can move, and, arguably most importantly, my father cannot shoot me down from the sky with one of his bolts. If he did.. well the world would burn and Helios would be _really_ pissed off.  
  
The moment we took off I started to second guess myself, internally of course. I knew I would dread every moment of this. But as we rose higher and higher I felt the dead morph into fear. I wanted, no _needed_ to get off of this plane. I could practically feel Will’s worried eyes drilling into my head. I would _not_ worry them with my terror of Zeus striking us down. _Us_ . If Zeus _did_ decide he finally wanted to rid this world of my existence, he would not only take me down but my kids with me. My fear morphed into raw panic.  
  
I didn't want them to die because of me. I closed my eyes, trying to steady my quick and shallow breathing. I didn't want them to know. They couldn't know. They didn't nees to know.  
  
Will placed his hand on my arm. “Apollo?” His voice was calm. A great contrast to my inner turmoil.  
  
“Yeah Will?” My voice miraculously stayed steady.  
  
“Your hands are trembling, your breath is shaky, your clearly not alright.”  
  
“I’m.. I'm fine will. I don't know what your talking about” My voice trembled again.  How long had it been since we took off? a half hour? 10 minutes? I couldn't remember.  
  
“Apollo.”  
  
“I'm afraid of planes! Alright!” I snapped, my voice breaking and for the first time in millennia. I let my act of I'm Okay break _while_ I was acting.  
  
Will nodded, seemingly unfazed by my outburst. I rested my head against the back of my seat, counting to 7 in my head, attempting to calm myself down.  
  
Awhile later, the plane hit turbulence. I tensed as the plane started shaking, my hands clenched around the armrests. I knew what turbulence was. I knew that it was a harmless part of the flight. I knew that it wasn't Zeus getting ready to strike us from the sky. But I couldn't make myself believe a lightning bolt wasn't about to hit us. I closed my eyes tightly and started murmuring ancient good luck sayings from any and every language I could remember. I couldn't stop the tear that squeezed out from under my eyelids. I wiped it quickly, hoping that no one had seen it. Unfortunately, Kayla had noticed. “Are you alright?” She asked I didn't trust myself to respond. I nodded numbly, trying to distract myself from the fact that I was in my father's' domain. In prime lightning bolt territory. With my kids, On a plane. How could things get worse?  
  
So, as it turns out, things got worse.  We were veering around a thunderstorm. I could actually _feel_ my heart rate rise as I saw the flashes of lightning in the clouds. My mouth went dry and this time Austin noticed my terror. He smiled at me. “The pilot goes around the storms. We won't go through.” I knew that. But the sight of lightning made me feel nauseous. I clasped my hands together, trying to stop them from trembling.  
  
The final straw before I snapped was when lightning nearly hit the plane. The light flashed right next to my window and I felt terror like I had only felt as a young god when Zeus was angry. I covered my face with my hands, trying to steady my erratic breathing. Immediately after we hit turbulence, and I felt like my breakfast was about to make a reappearance. Somewhere in the background, I heard Will’s voice, but it was blocked out by my own racing thoughts. I felt like I was going to die my heart was beating so fast.  
  
Then the turbulence stopped and I found myself capable of breathing again. Will’s eyes were wide, his hand outstretched like he wanted to touch me but was afraid. My heart was still racing but I could make out Will’s voice now. “……Apollo? Dad? Apollo? Apollo?!?” I made a sound halfway between a sob and a whimper. Will looked relieved I had responded, but he was still pale. “Apollo, you could have told us planes weren't a good idea. We could have driven.” He said calmly, I tried to keep myself from sobbing. My efforts weren't faring very well.  
  
“…Is it the lightning?” Kaylah asked she sounded nervous. Almost scared.  
  
I debated answering, my godly relatives were certainly watching. Was admitting such a weakness a good idea? Artemis and Hermes know of my phobia. They know how bad lightning scares me. My kids deserve to know too. I nodded weakly, unable to meet their eyes. Will put his hand on my shoulder.  
  
“Does- does Zu-” she cut herself off. Better to not alert him. “Does _he_ ..?” She didn't finish her sentence.  We all knew of which _he_ she was referring too. She sounded terrified. Like she feared my answer.  
  
“Hurt you.” Will finished for her. “Does he, or has he ever hurt you” There was a sad look in his eyes. The same sad look Artemis gets in her eyes whenever she finds me sobbing.  
  
It had been a long time since I had pissed off Zeus to the point of him blasting me, but the threat is always there. Looming over me like a cloud of pure pain and anguish. I nodded weakly. I would tell them the entire story later. I couldn't right now. Not without making myself start sobbing.  
  
“Oh gods…” Austin mumbled, looking green. He looked at me like he was only first seeing me. I lowered my gaze to my shaking hands.  
  
“it… it was a long long time ago” I muttered, my voice trembling.    
  
“..Still, doesn't make it right..” Kayla murmured.  
  
Later, as the plane was landing, and we were getting off a flight attendant hurried by us. As he was walking by me he slipped a Hershey's Chocolate bar into my hand. I glanced up, the man winked. For a moment I was confused, but as he walked away I noticed the caduceus symbol on the back of his shirt. I managed a weak smile. Of course, Hermes was protecting the plane. He was the god of Travel after all.  


**Author's Note:**

> The Tumblr Blog The Prompt Came From:  
> https://trialsofapollo-prompts.tumblr.com/
> 
> Okay. I know the collection is abt Apollo AND Artemis, but this counts.


End file.
